Any ideas about pain in upper arm after Modified Radical Mastectomy?

B 1

My mom had a left side Modified Radical Mastectomy two weeks ago (09/21/2009). Three days later (09/24) she was bleeding internally and they opened her back up to stop the bleeding. The drain was removed last week, the staples this week. When I saw her today she says the upper back part of her left arm hurts. There is no bruise and it does not look like any fluid has accumulated.

She has been doing the excercises 4x a day, I told her to cut back to 3x. Is this normal?
Any ideas?
Linda

mlmjt1

Hi Linda
I had bilateral mastectomy with 21 nodes removed in May. I still have tightness in my right side where the nodes were removed and maybe she overdid it with the exercises. I would watch for redness warmth swelling and temp which are all signs of infection but have her cut back some on the exercises. If she is raising the arm and it hurts she is raising too far. My occupational therapist told me it was better to do 10 reps and just hold the arm up to a count of 10 seconds but not past the point of pain.

See if that helps

Hugs to you both

Linda T

B 1

mlmjt1 said:

Hi Linda
I had bilateral mastectomy with 21 nodes removed in May. I still have tightness in my right side where the nodes were removed and maybe she overdid it with the exercises. I would watch for redness warmth swelling and temp which are all signs of infection but have her cut back some on the exercises. If she is raising the arm and it hurts she is raising too far. My occupational therapist told me it was better to do 10 reps and just hold the arm up to a count of 10 seconds but not past the point of pain.

See if that helps

Hugs to you both

Linda T

Thanks
Linda T

Called the surgeon today. Mom is being evaluation for PT on Friday.

Thanks for the help
Linda V